In 2006 the traveling changed because of the shampoo terrorists. A bunch of Asian origin, Arabic sounding named Brits were caught by the British police while they were supposedly getting ready to explode planes flying from UK to US using explosives hidden in juices, shampoos and moisturizers. Never mind that most of them didn't even have a passport so they could possibly not have got into those planes...
These shampoo terrorists got the experience of flying to a new low. Think of 1960s when you could bring the guns in the planes.. even those who would have been using their guns, would never have done it in the planes. The plane itself didn't give the impression of a cattle carrier - it was the experience of travel, people put on their best clothes for travel as it was a big experience, and they enjoyed it. A lot has changed. A lot was changed already before 9/11, but after that the traveling experience has gone just downhill. Move all your belongings to the x-ray belt (excluding your baby), including your belt, shoes, .. anything you can. They would strip you naked and use the rubber gloves if you would keep flying with that low experience. Most people wouldn't, so just move your belts, shoes, .. everything. Unpack your laptop and electric gadgets, show the camera lenses, unpack the iPods, and the newest addition to the security theater : put all your liquid belongings in a zip bag of a certain size - excluding baby formula which can be of unlimited amounts, and some medicines. They even confiscate your rocks.
A few weeks after this shampoo terrorism caused new additions to this liquid security theater had been going on, you would already find a whole new range of cosmetics in the stores. Shampoos, deodorants, conditioners, moisturizers that were in the new 75-100 ml size range. Same stuff you would get the bottle 5 times bigger for the same price, sometimes even for less. The shampoo companies sure make money out of that theater. Just as the companies making the x-ray machines made money in the 1980s after sponsoring bank robbers and hijackers to get up the need for a lot of new x-ray machines. And the programmers of ATS make out of the need to have some automated system that looks like they are doing something smart.
So the assumptions behind this liquid theater are that 1) terrorists don't hide their liquid bombs in infant formula or milk (since that will not be confiscated, the milk formula must be safe...) 2) anything in amounts less than 100 ml in a can and being max 10 bottles of that same stuff must be safe (since allowed to bring) and 3) liquid or gel like substance in bras are safe. You don't have to move your bras.
Talk about a whole new kind of recruitment strategies for all these terrorists : hire women with infants (or hire women AND get infants), and women wearing bras. White women preferably, with plain Western sounding names, so rather a Mary, Judy, or Hannah than an Ayisha. Who will also pass the ATS screening while they carefully do not ask to get a window seat, don't order any specific meal ever, pay always with their own credit card issued in the same country their passport was issued and they have lived all their life in, have never had a no-show on any flight they have purchased, have never got any one-way tickets or paid their fights in cash, and have a car of expected price range...
Saturday, December 30, 2006
Friday, December 29, 2006
Eating worth a million euros of coke to become famous
UPDATE : There are TWO models with the name Mercedes Brito... one from Venezuela who is innocent, and one from Dominican Republic, who was the one trying to traffic the coca. My apologies for the Venezuelan model for a wrong picture previously, I should not have believed some of these worst newspapers. You look gorgeous - all the best for your life and career. (See the comments)
Way to go. Way to get famous... in fashion like in every other business where becoming famous matters, every possible way will do for some people...
At least it was so for the Dominican model Mercedes Brito, who in less than a week has got her name all over news in Europe.
First, there was a small story in La Repubblica on Christmas eve, they didn't even mention the name there. And days later, the details leaked out .. or the detail that matters : the name. Daily Record : Julissa Mercedes, 24, who has starred in cosmetics and clothing campaigns, had nearly 3lb of the drug inside her, which police claim was worth up to £1million. [..] "We believe that this cocaine was destined for local Mafia and it would have been sold in the run-up to the New Year's Eve festivities." Flying the deal from Belgium to Sicily does not usually make much sense ... that's not the usual route for the drugs.
It hit also sawf, The Sun (how could it not? That smells like The Sun first page news right there), Mirror, even Aftonbladet in Sweden, T-Online news...
Well well. Famous on these The Sun type newspapers for less than a week, and then shrunk to the oblivion. Of her agency, Max Models, there is already no sign of her left... as there is nothing left on L'Oreal.
Mercedes who in other sources gets even a full name, Julissa Bianela Mercedes Brito, at least got famous ... Seriously. With the salaries a model that looks decent gets, why on earth would anyone risk their life and everything for a few thousand euros? Greediness, or just incredible stupidity?
Way to go. Way to get famous... in fashion like in every other business where becoming famous matters, every possible way will do for some people...
At least it was so for the Dominican model Mercedes Brito, who in less than a week has got her name all over news in Europe.
First, there was a small story in La Repubblica on Christmas eve, they didn't even mention the name there. And days later, the details leaked out .. or the detail that matters : the name. Daily Record : Julissa Mercedes, 24, who has starred in cosmetics and clothing campaigns, had nearly 3lb of the drug inside her, which police claim was worth up to £1million. [..] "We believe that this cocaine was destined for local Mafia and it would have been sold in the run-up to the New Year's Eve festivities." Flying the deal from Belgium to Sicily does not usually make much sense ... that's not the usual route for the drugs.
It hit also sawf, The Sun (how could it not? That smells like The Sun first page news right there), Mirror, even Aftonbladet in Sweden, T-Online news...
Well well. Famous on these The Sun type newspapers for less than a week, and then shrunk to the oblivion. Of her agency, Max Models, there is already no sign of her left... as there is nothing left on L'Oreal.
Mercedes who in other sources gets even a full name, Julissa Bianela Mercedes Brito, at least got famous ... Seriously. With the salaries a model that looks decent gets, why on earth would anyone risk their life and everything for a few thousand euros? Greediness, or just incredible stupidity?
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
Stupid Spammers: Beautifulswiss.com War on Spam
Beautifulswiss.com Part I
Stupid Spammers: Beautifulswiss.com War - Part II
... can get quite anal when the spammers use innocent people's email addresses in their reply-tos.
Grr.
Ever had your inboxes invaded by these undeliverable mails?
Stupid Spammers: Beautifulswiss.com War - Part II
... can get quite anal when the spammers use innocent people's email addresses in their reply-tos.
Grr.
Ever had your inboxes invaded by these undeliverable mails?
Small steps on catwalk
The reaction to the death of the young models that died of anorexia recently caught my eye a few weeks back. This autumn or winter, two South American models, Ana Carolina Reston and Luisel Ramos both died of anorexia complications.
So at least there is something good coming out of it...
Madrid bans waifs from catwalks
Is ultra-thin going out of fashion? : Action may have been prompted by the death of a 22-year-old Uruguayan model who collapsed after a catwalk show in August. She had reportedly eaten little but leafy vegetables for months in order to lose weight.
Commentators have also questioned the negative impact of underweight models on ordinary girls' and women's body image, amid concerns over anorexia.
Of course, whether the move away from the super-skinny gathers weight will not be down to the models - it's the modelling agencies, designers and fashion magazines who hold the clout.
The question is, will the powerhouses of the industry listen to the chorus of concern - or argue they are simply meeting the desire of the buying public to see clothes on waif-like women?
Italian designer Giorgio Armani, writing in the UK's Independent newspaper before London Fashion Week, admitted he preferred models "on the slender side" because "the clothes I design and the sort of fabrics I use need to hang correctly on the body". [...]
However, there is some evidence of a shift away from the current trend for American size 0 (British size 4) women, among them one of the UK's most successful models, 18-year-old Lily Cole. [...]
And the Clothes Show Live, a high-profile UK fashion event, has said that from December no models smaller than a British size 6 will be used.
But observers warn it may take a long time for attitudes to change.
She points to studies showing that over the past 30 years models in magazines have grown steadily thinner, so that now they tend to be about 15% underweight.
"There's a growing disparity between the bodies women have and the ideal being displayed to them," she said.
Italy's fashion capital, Milan, has announced a new catwalk code of conduct to protect young models vulnerable to anorexia and exploitation - Under Milan's new code, which is due to come into force in time for the next fashion week, in February, models will have to carry a medical certificate showing they are healthy.
Almost every teenage girl hates the way they look, a survey suggests. One in five is so unhappy they suffer from anorexia or bulimia.
The survey of 2,000 girls for Bliss magazine found six out of 10 would be happier if they lost weight.
Small steps to change. At least the society talks more about those things now. Then again I don't understand why it has taken so long time for the media and the public to find out a few very basic things .... like teens and pre-teenagers dieting and being weight obsessed. I remember being in the elementary school ... at least then doctors and nurses were looking at the book definitions of anorexia. And if those kids that were skinny, who had ALWAYS had a sick attitude to food .. they could continue being skinny as they were too young to comply with the criteria they had on their books .. or on their notes from their study time, when they dealt with the eating disorders maybe half of a lecture years back...
It will take a lot longer and more than having a doctor write a certificate to a model to show they are healthy.
It will have to be the designers to change what they think is pretty, or how they design.
It's a lot easier to design to insanely skinny people.
And enough many people buy their ideology and clothing.
And enough businesses and industries make money out of products sold for losing weight, slimming, cosmetics, cosmetic surgery ...
What if ... women (and men) were happy right now and here with the shape they are now? Screw the dieting products and weight loss this and that.
That would be the ultimate change, from inside.
Not many people, of ANY age, are comfortable with their body.
So at least there is something good coming out of it...
Madrid bans waifs from catwalks
Is ultra-thin going out of fashion? : Action may have been prompted by the death of a 22-year-old Uruguayan model who collapsed after a catwalk show in August. She had reportedly eaten little but leafy vegetables for months in order to lose weight.
Commentators have also questioned the negative impact of underweight models on ordinary girls' and women's body image, amid concerns over anorexia.
Of course, whether the move away from the super-skinny gathers weight will not be down to the models - it's the modelling agencies, designers and fashion magazines who hold the clout.
The question is, will the powerhouses of the industry listen to the chorus of concern - or argue they are simply meeting the desire of the buying public to see clothes on waif-like women?
Italian designer Giorgio Armani, writing in the UK's Independent newspaper before London Fashion Week, admitted he preferred models "on the slender side" because "the clothes I design and the sort of fabrics I use need to hang correctly on the body". [...]
However, there is some evidence of a shift away from the current trend for American size 0 (British size 4) women, among them one of the UK's most successful models, 18-year-old Lily Cole. [...]
And the Clothes Show Live, a high-profile UK fashion event, has said that from December no models smaller than a British size 6 will be used.
But observers warn it may take a long time for attitudes to change.
She points to studies showing that over the past 30 years models in magazines have grown steadily thinner, so that now they tend to be about 15% underweight.
"There's a growing disparity between the bodies women have and the ideal being displayed to them," she said.
Italy's fashion capital, Milan, has announced a new catwalk code of conduct to protect young models vulnerable to anorexia and exploitation - Under Milan's new code, which is due to come into force in time for the next fashion week, in February, models will have to carry a medical certificate showing they are healthy.
Almost every teenage girl hates the way they look, a survey suggests. One in five is so unhappy they suffer from anorexia or bulimia.
The survey of 2,000 girls for Bliss magazine found six out of 10 would be happier if they lost weight.
Small steps to change. At least the society talks more about those things now. Then again I don't understand why it has taken so long time for the media and the public to find out a few very basic things .... like teens and pre-teenagers dieting and being weight obsessed. I remember being in the elementary school ... at least then doctors and nurses were looking at the book definitions of anorexia. And if those kids that were skinny, who had ALWAYS had a sick attitude to food .. they could continue being skinny as they were too young to comply with the criteria they had on their books .. or on their notes from their study time, when they dealt with the eating disorders maybe half of a lecture years back...
It will take a lot longer and more than having a doctor write a certificate to a model to show they are healthy.
It will have to be the designers to change what they think is pretty, or how they design.
It's a lot easier to design to insanely skinny people.
And enough many people buy their ideology and clothing.
And enough businesses and industries make money out of products sold for losing weight, slimming, cosmetics, cosmetic surgery ...
What if ... women (and men) were happy right now and here with the shape they are now? Screw the dieting products and weight loss this and that.
That would be the ultimate change, from inside.
Not many people, of ANY age, are comfortable with their body.
Creative Commons Christmas music
A great find on Uwe Hermann blog : 235 songs which are all explicitly released under a Creative Commons license - so get your free christmas music from there and enjoy. :)
Monday, December 25, 2006
Holier than thou people
Why is it that some people have a constant air of holier-than-thou attitude?
The coffee they drink is better than the coffee you drink, because they think they have so much more eclectic taste of coffee. They bring their own espresso machine to work, and they get violent and aggressive if anyone touches their home edition of the industrial strenght coffee maker.
Or the ones who are holier than you because they don't drink coffee. They are so much better than you as they don't have to drink coffee, or they find some weird reason that shows they are so much better than you anyway. They so have to rub the reasons why they are so much better, and why they don't drink coffee.
Their camera equipment and their photographic skills are so much better and holier than yours. They carry their Nikon SLRs to work and to all parties, never mind that at work one isn't allowed to take pictures... they blog obsessively about their camera experiments, they flickr whore, .. and all their color, composition, style, photographing skills are just so much underlining how much better they are than you are.
Their blog contains the superprofessional opinions of something they want the world to think they know everything about (as the world doesn't know that widely that the closest to professional part of what they want to be known as experts of, was and is a phone monkey, and not a particularly skilled one).
Their wine or other alcohol taste is so much better than yours. They read the wine magazines, and subscribe to the opinions of the famous wine tasters.
Or they make such a big thing about why they don't drink alcohol.
They are fashionably vegetarians, or vegenazis, because that fits their manga artistic emo look, their better than everyone else attitude and look...
Or they have a fashionable eating disorder, wanarexia, wannabe-bulimia, or they are on atkins because that's the fashionable thing to do. And they are so much better than you because of that.
They are fashionablymetro bisexual.
And fashionably buddhist or other fashionable religion.
.. and it goes on and on, in every single bit of the life you observe. They are so much better than you, and they make sure you know it.
If they find someone to tolerate them, I am sure we will know how much better their spouse or significant other is.
They paint the clouds on how the next year they will be a professional photographer. move to Australia or other different location, or become this and that at work.
Maybe it's the overgrown generation G or Z .. or whichever was the latest, one or two after the X. They move abroad like the generation G, if by doing that they can show how much better than you they are.
When they are sick, even their sicknesses are better than yours. They are more sick, or their medicinal needs are so much better than yours. Just like their grandparents talked about their ulcer and kidney stones and overweight just as it was their beloved child, the better than you person's health stories get a lot of love and attention in their description. And when you have just a normal asthma, their asthma is so much better and so much more special than yours.
They are the disposable income and the marketer's dream... they buy the toys because with that fashionable toy they can prove they are so much better than you and the other neighbors and workbuddies they have (but as a difference to the usual get a bigger car to show your neighbors you are better and richer than them-kind of person, the holier than you person chooses way more eclectic items to brag with, and rather ideologies than cars or house decoration kitsch). They buy books about Buddha's life and add their Buddha statues on a pretty display hosting also all their South Park and manga dolls and plastic figurines.
Sometimes it would be fun to crush them and their better than yours dreams in their better than yours coffee grinder like the better than yours coffee.
The coffee they drink is better than the coffee you drink, because they think they have so much more eclectic taste of coffee. They bring their own espresso machine to work, and they get violent and aggressive if anyone touches their home edition of the industrial strenght coffee maker.
Or the ones who are holier than you because they don't drink coffee. They are so much better than you as they don't have to drink coffee, or they find some weird reason that shows they are so much better than you anyway. They so have to rub the reasons why they are so much better, and why they don't drink coffee.
Their camera equipment and their photographic skills are so much better and holier than yours. They carry their Nikon SLRs to work and to all parties, never mind that at work one isn't allowed to take pictures... they blog obsessively about their camera experiments, they flickr whore, .. and all their color, composition, style, photographing skills are just so much underlining how much better they are than you are.
Their blog contains the superprofessional opinions of something they want the world to think they know everything about (as the world doesn't know that widely that the closest to professional part of what they want to be known as experts of, was and is a phone monkey, and not a particularly skilled one).
Their wine or other alcohol taste is so much better than yours. They read the wine magazines, and subscribe to the opinions of the famous wine tasters.
Or they make such a big thing about why they don't drink alcohol.
They are fashionably vegetarians, or vegenazis, because that fits their manga artistic emo look, their better than everyone else attitude and look...
Or they have a fashionable eating disorder, wanarexia, wannabe-bulimia, or they are on atkins because that's the fashionable thing to do. And they are so much better than you because of that.
They are fashionably
And fashionably buddhist or other fashionable religion.
.. and it goes on and on, in every single bit of the life you observe. They are so much better than you, and they make sure you know it.
If they find someone to tolerate them, I am sure we will know how much better their spouse or significant other is.
They paint the clouds on how the next year they will be a professional photographer. move to Australia or other different location, or become this and that at work.
Maybe it's the overgrown generation G or Z .. or whichever was the latest, one or two after the X. They move abroad like the generation G, if by doing that they can show how much better than you they are.
When they are sick, even their sicknesses are better than yours. They are more sick, or their medicinal needs are so much better than yours. Just like their grandparents talked about their ulcer and kidney stones and overweight just as it was their beloved child, the better than you person's health stories get a lot of love and attention in their description. And when you have just a normal asthma, their asthma is so much better and so much more special than yours.
They are the disposable income and the marketer's dream... they buy the toys because with that fashionable toy they can prove they are so much better than you and the other neighbors and workbuddies they have (but as a difference to the usual get a bigger car to show your neighbors you are better and richer than them-kind of person, the holier than you person chooses way more eclectic items to brag with, and rather ideologies than cars or house decoration kitsch). They buy books about Buddha's life and add their Buddha statues on a pretty display hosting also all their South Park and manga dolls and plastic figurines.
Sometimes it would be fun to crush them and their better than yours dreams in their better than yours coffee grinder like the better than yours coffee.
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Xanax for allergies, malaria meds for flu - Ireland sure is creative
Here, in Leprachaunland, once you've seen someone been put on xanax for her allergies, you will be wondering wtf ... until you see that everyone approves it completely fine, as if it was the norm. Maybe in this country they cure allergies with xanax which in other countries is reserved for uses like OCD.
Somehow to that same category of very weird medicine uses is getting malaria and malaria prevention medications for a simple flu.
It will take quite a bit of innovative medicine use to surprise me at all in this country.
Somehow to that same category of very weird medicine uses is getting malaria and malaria prevention medications for a simple flu.
It will take quite a bit of innovative medicine use to surprise me at all in this country.
Saturday, December 16, 2006
Nomarriage.com isn't that much about hating women than it's about making money
Today there was need for finding dummies in the net and discovering all or enough about them. So nomarriage.com isn't that much about hating women than it's about making money
Nomarriage.com seems to be about ranting about women, why the American women suck ... well, it's better analyzed just about selling. Selling the websites' contents, the book that isn't even published at a paper form .. it's about selling. Since people have a bigger need for love than they have for buying and paying for religion, his business idea for sure will not run out of potential clients.
At least I hope it's only hating American women for the sake of selling that guy's unpublished books and his websites, and not for the sake of hating women.
Nomarriage.com seems to be about ranting about women, why the American women suck ... well, it's better analyzed just about selling. Selling the websites' contents, the book that isn't even published at a paper form .. it's about selling. Since people have a bigger need for love than they have for buying and paying for religion, his business idea for sure will not run out of potential clients.
At least I hope it's only hating American women for the sake of selling that guy's unpublished books and his websites, and not for the sake of hating women.
Friday, December 15, 2006
The gayest, straightest, sexiest - or just the most boring cars
There was somewhere a few days ago something about the most sexiest, straightest and gayest cars in the net. I had to rush so I forgot where I saw it so I tried to search it again...
So I found different versions.
You'd think they have something in common.
About-site's gay section lists these as the gayest cars of the year:
1) 2006 BMW 5 Series Sedan
2) 2006 Saab 9-5 Wagon
3) 2006 Kia Sorento
and lists after these in the top ten also 2006 Chevrolet Impala, 2006 Mini Cooper, 2006 Honda Element, 2006 Chrysler 300C, 2006 Pontiac G6, 2006 Subaru Outback (for the lesbian moving van), and the budget queeriest car, 2006 Ford Focus.
Straight sites name the gay cars a lot different. Finally I found the site I had seen the article too, gizmodo.
Personalbee and gizmodo both take the results of wheels24. So, the straight rich car magazine reading people in New Zealand think that these cars are gay:
1. Peugeot 207 (pictured above): 7155
2. BMW 3 Series Coupe: 3378
3. Jaguar XK: 2571
4. Honda Civic Hatch: 1776
5. Alfa Romeo 159: 1293
which, if we compare the list to what the gay review site had concluded shows NONE of the "gay" matches be the same. Maybe in this second list the gay was used as a synonym for not very nice design instead.
This wheels24 voted these as the most straight cars:
1. Audi RS4 (pictured above): 9824
2. Toyota Fortuner: 2629
3. Dodge Caliber: 1808
4. VW Jetta: 979
5. Lexus IS250: 936
And the sexiest rear-end votes:
1. Alfa Brera (pictured above): 6608
2. BMW Z4 Coupe: 5722
3. Opel Astra GTC: 2270
4. Renault Clio: 1071
5. Nissan Tiida: 505
There is something just plain wrong with these results.
First - there are no sexy cars in the sexy cars list. If they want to go voting for not so budget cars, why limit the results with any budget? Top sexiest cars rear-end list that doesn't contain Lamborghini Diablo, any Ferrari, old Fiat Cinquecento, Cadillacs from 1970s among others is just plain wrong.
Second - all these cars in the gayest and sexiest list of wheels24 are average looking. The straightest cars list is way boring - hopefully no one will boost their family valueness or straightness facade by choosing a car voted straight from the list. Volkswagen, Dodge, Toyota, Lexus.. meh. I would choose gladly any non-straight car over those.
Third - I could not vote for the gay cars since my gaydar isn't on the wave length of cars. Gay car would have to not look like a family car, and sure be with style and elegance. And it's not what you have but how you use it.. On my version of the straight cars list there would have to be SUVs, just because I can't imagine any gay driving a SUV ... so I leave my votes open.
What would your version of the gayest, straightest, and sexiest cars be? Please tell.
So I found different versions.
You'd think they have something in common.
About-site's gay section lists these as the gayest cars of the year:
1) 2006 BMW 5 Series Sedan
2) 2006 Saab 9-5 Wagon
3) 2006 Kia Sorento
and lists after these in the top ten also 2006 Chevrolet Impala, 2006 Mini Cooper, 2006 Honda Element, 2006 Chrysler 300C, 2006 Pontiac G6, 2006 Subaru Outback (for the lesbian moving van), and the budget queeriest car, 2006 Ford Focus.
Straight sites name the gay cars a lot different. Finally I found the site I had seen the article too, gizmodo.
Personalbee and gizmodo both take the results of wheels24. So, the straight rich car magazine reading people in New Zealand think that these cars are gay:
1. Peugeot 207 (pictured above): 7155
2. BMW 3 Series Coupe: 3378
3. Jaguar XK: 2571
4. Honda Civic Hatch: 1776
5. Alfa Romeo 159: 1293
which, if we compare the list to what the gay review site had concluded shows NONE of the "gay" matches be the same. Maybe in this second list the gay was used as a synonym for not very nice design instead.
This wheels24 voted these as the most straight cars:
1. Audi RS4 (pictured above): 9824
2. Toyota Fortuner: 2629
3. Dodge Caliber: 1808
4. VW Jetta: 979
5. Lexus IS250: 936
And the sexiest rear-end votes:
1. Alfa Brera (pictured above): 6608
2. BMW Z4 Coupe: 5722
3. Opel Astra GTC: 2270
4. Renault Clio: 1071
5. Nissan Tiida: 505
There is something just plain wrong with these results.
First - there are no sexy cars in the sexy cars list. If they want to go voting for not so budget cars, why limit the results with any budget? Top sexiest cars rear-end list that doesn't contain Lamborghini Diablo, any Ferrari, old Fiat Cinquecento, Cadillacs from 1970s among others is just plain wrong.
Second - all these cars in the gayest and sexiest list of wheels24 are average looking. The straightest cars list is way boring - hopefully no one will boost their family valueness or straightness facade by choosing a car voted straight from the list. Volkswagen, Dodge, Toyota, Lexus.. meh. I would choose gladly any non-straight car over those.
Third - I could not vote for the gay cars since my gaydar isn't on the wave length of cars. Gay car would have to not look like a family car, and sure be with style and elegance. And it's not what you have but how you use it.. On my version of the straight cars list there would have to be SUVs, just because I can't imagine any gay driving a SUV ... so I leave my votes open.
What would your version of the gayest, straightest, and sexiest cars be? Please tell.
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Enough of bad music industry again
Simple Rich has had a less than nice experience with audio CDs of BMG.
That mentality of the music industry, treating its end users as criminals is what made not buy any audio CDs any more - this decided in 2003. I have put a few singular dollars to music since, but those were from iTunes store, and concerts (like the best ever Public Enemy concert).
It does not play with iTunes, Windows Media Player, Winamp ... it wants its own software installed. ... it makes the end customer pay for the thieves.
There was one more reason why I quit buying music - audio CDs cost as much as movie DVDs. To produce a movie normally costs at least hundreds of thousands of dollars. To make an audio CD does not. You can use the same recording studio and the same exact audio mixing software for hundreds of CD productions.
Either the audio CDs are overpriced as when the CDs first came out they cost more than the LPs and cassettes, and when those were phased out ... the prices never came down even though the cost of production came to a few cents per unit.
Or because the music industry makes that much money itself, or because it has to pay still so much to the radio DJs to play the top 40 music, like the major cost was in the 1950s, ...
Or suddenly they would have started to pay enough for the musicians, which I don't think would be the case ...
Or because music industry feels the need and justification to develop more rootkit kind of software to screw the music fans and end customers, or ... or ..
Well, music industry is just greedy.
Time for more iTunes store, in limited amounts, and some open source music. Or something like it. A end user silent revolution...
That mentality of the music industry, treating its end users as criminals is what made not buy any audio CDs any more - this decided in 2003. I have put a few singular dollars to music since, but those were from iTunes store, and concerts (like the best ever Public Enemy concert).
It does not play with iTunes, Windows Media Player, Winamp ... it wants its own software installed. ... it makes the end customer pay for the thieves.
There was one more reason why I quit buying music - audio CDs cost as much as movie DVDs. To produce a movie normally costs at least hundreds of thousands of dollars. To make an audio CD does not. You can use the same recording studio and the same exact audio mixing software for hundreds of CD productions.
Either the audio CDs are overpriced as when the CDs first came out they cost more than the LPs and cassettes, and when those were phased out ... the prices never came down even though the cost of production came to a few cents per unit.
Or because the music industry makes that much money itself, or because it has to pay still so much to the radio DJs to play the top 40 music, like the major cost was in the 1950s, ...
Or suddenly they would have started to pay enough for the musicians, which I don't think would be the case ...
Or because music industry feels the need and justification to develop more rootkit kind of software to screw the music fans and end customers, or ... or ..
Well, music industry is just greedy.
Time for more iTunes store, in limited amounts, and some open source music. Or something like it. A end user silent revolution...
Sunday, December 10, 2006
Spam fajitas...
Click to view bigger - any wider version of that image kills the right column...
Spam fajitas and a lot of spam recipes ... interesting how the google ads work. When ever I look at my spam folder (which, despite cleaning regularly tends to look like in the screenshot above right now), I get some cooking recipes how to use spam for this and that recipe. If only they would make vegan spam ... something soy based and no msg.
Saturday, December 09, 2006
So much for the Irish - American relationships being special
The bureaucracy here is driving me insane. At least the insane bureaucracy is not in everything so I can mostly live without it, but there is one piece where they made it just very annoying.
So, the EU citizens that are resident but not originally local (Irish) who marry a non-EU citizen which will then move with the EU spouse to Ireland have fun time to expect.
How this worked before was the non-EU spouse would go with his documents to the local garda (police) station which would check the documents and give the residency stamps and card with a maximum of a few hours or days wait and maybe few days to check the documents' being valid.
How this works since May sounds in theory good for whomever decided to change this : now the non-EU spouse has to send his or her valid passport, their original copy of marriage certificate, a proof of address which sometimes may be the EU spouse's driving license to the inspection at Department of Justice. First Ireland didn't want to impose any time limits for how long this would take, allowing the DoJ an unlimited time to be as slow or fast as they want. EU legals made however that there would be a time limit for this original documents inspection, so it was set to "up to six months". and which the applicants would be able to shorten in case they would need their passport back urgently by contacting this Department of Justice by mail, email, or phone.
This if the marriage didn't take space in Ireland... well, the obligatory 3 months waste of time of 'notice' in Ireland bwfore being able to marry plus the great options of having a religious or a religious ceremony don't appeal to everyone. It didn't appeal to us, so we did it in another EU country where the paperwork took less time, and where we also could choose a minimum civil ceremony.
Back to this "up to six months". It was dictated by EU legal people, the Irish didn't want it to have any maximum time. I guess they were fed up with all these new people migrating here in the past few years. If you now walk in a bigger city like in Dublin, Cork, or Galway, often you can hear way more people speak Polish than Gaelic, and there are a lot of European and non-European languages that are a lot more often heard than the leprachaun mytical Gaelic. Even when the Irish do their best to look comfortable with the non-Irish, you often see a dislike in them. I don't know if it's for not wanting any changes to occur, or for wanting a slower pace in the immigration grace, of if those people are just grumpy with everyone that they don't know, but you can see it. Fortunately it doesn't go to the levels of the Japanese reacting on the non-Japanese in their country.
During these six months, the non-EU spouse has the right to stay for his or her marriage, but they can't work before they get residency, which should occur after those six months, or if they get a company to sponsor their visa or get another type of work visa.
During these six months, in case there is an emergency need for the passport - funerals, travels for job interviews etc - send in a request and they will send the passport back. In the papers it didn't say when. We asked for the passport back in early October as there was the need to get to a few job interviews in London. We have yet not received anything back.
After this annoying six months, the paperwork should arrive back in mail (in case you change your address it will be another piece of paperwork to send in... so I don't even want to think about changing my place to live in), and the non-EU person should be allowed to get his or her documents back, the residency, the PPS number for the social services and tax office, and the needed paperwork to be able to work legally.
This occurs not just to the third world people, but also to Americans and Canadians.
Six months without passport. Six months without the right to work, forced to leech off the EU spouse with their less than great Irish salaries. Six months when you can't travel, even if there were funerals or job interviews or any given reason, since they don't send any acknowledgment that they would have received your request in mail, email, or phone (just trying to get thru takes minimum hours). Or you can travel as far form where you live until you would have to have a passport, so that means no flying, no trains, no car renting (and the one of you that can drive manual has their license sent in for the same process to the same place), no staying overnight at any hotel, hostel or B&B ... Great six months.
This experience is not over yet but it has felt annoying all the time the papers are there, and I get more and more anxious every day. I want to travel, go to a weekend in London, Amsterdam, visit Germany with out friends, get out somewhere where there is sun for a week, go visit the parents, and start the Green Card process. If only it would have been me without the job last spring, we would have chosen the other side of the pond, where for being married the EU-spouse would have been working in a month.
Someone told that to an Irish married to a non-EU person it would take at least 18 - 24 months of leaching off the Irish spouse before getting the residency.
This process is getting on the nerves of both of us every single day. We want two incomes, to be able to do short trips (to afford to with the incomes), to start slowly the process of moving to the other side of the pond. The one that is not allowed to work after the first few weeks has been annoyed daily isn't any less stressed at least. The only thing that feels like a victory on the darkest days is that there is no more of that 90 days, out of country and back-life. It's not breaking only my balls but also UN human declarations points 13)2 (since no passport), 21)2, 22, and 23)1.
If it was a private company doing all this process, there would be these "how are we doing", "how could we improve our services" and "how was the person serving you like?" surveys. Since it is government, there are none.
So, the EU citizens that are resident but not originally local (Irish) who marry a non-EU citizen which will then move with the EU spouse to Ireland have fun time to expect.
How this worked before was the non-EU spouse would go with his documents to the local garda (police) station which would check the documents and give the residency stamps and card with a maximum of a few hours or days wait and maybe few days to check the documents' being valid.
How this works since May sounds in theory good for whomever decided to change this : now the non-EU spouse has to send his or her valid passport, their original copy of marriage certificate, a proof of address which sometimes may be the EU spouse's driving license to the inspection at Department of Justice. First Ireland didn't want to impose any time limits for how long this would take, allowing the DoJ an unlimited time to be as slow or fast as they want. EU legals made however that there would be a time limit for this original documents inspection, so it was set to "up to six months". and which the applicants would be able to shorten in case they would need their passport back urgently by contacting this Department of Justice by mail, email, or phone.
This if the marriage didn't take space in Ireland... well, the obligatory 3 months waste of time of 'notice' in Ireland bwfore being able to marry plus the great options of having a religious or a religious ceremony don't appeal to everyone. It didn't appeal to us, so we did it in another EU country where the paperwork took less time, and where we also could choose a minimum civil ceremony.
Back to this "up to six months". It was dictated by EU legal people, the Irish didn't want it to have any maximum time. I guess they were fed up with all these new people migrating here in the past few years. If you now walk in a bigger city like in Dublin, Cork, or Galway, often you can hear way more people speak Polish than Gaelic, and there are a lot of European and non-European languages that are a lot more often heard than the leprachaun mytical Gaelic. Even when the Irish do their best to look comfortable with the non-Irish, you often see a dislike in them. I don't know if it's for not wanting any changes to occur, or for wanting a slower pace in the immigration grace, of if those people are just grumpy with everyone that they don't know, but you can see it. Fortunately it doesn't go to the levels of the Japanese reacting on the non-Japanese in their country.
During these six months, the non-EU spouse has the right to stay for his or her marriage, but they can't work before they get residency, which should occur after those six months, or if they get a company to sponsor their visa or get another type of work visa.
During these six months, in case there is an emergency need for the passport - funerals, travels for job interviews etc - send in a request and they will send the passport back. In the papers it didn't say when. We asked for the passport back in early October as there was the need to get to a few job interviews in London. We have yet not received anything back.
After this annoying six months, the paperwork should arrive back in mail (in case you change your address it will be another piece of paperwork to send in... so I don't even want to think about changing my place to live in), and the non-EU person should be allowed to get his or her documents back, the residency, the PPS number for the social services and tax office, and the needed paperwork to be able to work legally.
This occurs not just to the third world people, but also to Americans and Canadians.
Six months without passport. Six months without the right to work, forced to leech off the EU spouse with their less than great Irish salaries. Six months when you can't travel, even if there were funerals or job interviews or any given reason, since they don't send any acknowledgment that they would have received your request in mail, email, or phone (just trying to get thru takes minimum hours). Or you can travel as far form where you live until you would have to have a passport, so that means no flying, no trains, no car renting (and the one of you that can drive manual has their license sent in for the same process to the same place), no staying overnight at any hotel, hostel or B&B ... Great six months.
This experience is not over yet but it has felt annoying all the time the papers are there, and I get more and more anxious every day. I want to travel, go to a weekend in London, Amsterdam, visit Germany with out friends, get out somewhere where there is sun for a week, go visit the parents, and start the Green Card process. If only it would have been me without the job last spring, we would have chosen the other side of the pond, where for being married the EU-spouse would have been working in a month.
Someone told that to an Irish married to a non-EU person it would take at least 18 - 24 months of leaching off the Irish spouse before getting the residency.
This process is getting on the nerves of both of us every single day. We want two incomes, to be able to do short trips (to afford to with the incomes), to start slowly the process of moving to the other side of the pond. The one that is not allowed to work after the first few weeks has been annoyed daily isn't any less stressed at least. The only thing that feels like a victory on the darkest days is that there is no more of that 90 days, out of country and back-life. It's not breaking only my balls but also UN human declarations points 13)2 (since no passport), 21)2, 22, and 23)1.
If it was a private company doing all this process, there would be these "how are we doing", "how could we improve our services" and "how was the person serving you like?" surveys. Since it is government, there are none.
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
Duct tape DIY shopping bag
Duct tape shopping bag.
A way to reuse the lying around USPS envelopes and Apple store bags...
Inspired, obviously, by Thinkgeek duct tape wallet.
To be obviously accompanied by a RFID blocking duct tape wallet and passport covers.
Monday, December 04, 2006
Most useful and useless mac os x applications
The most and least useful OS X applications
I tried to make for a long time a list of the most used and least used applications in Mac OS X. Not the easiest task since everyone's needs are different, and even I have way different needs at work and at home, but here comes both sides considered one version.
The useful ones that are either OS X supplied or come from Apple :
1. Terminal
2. Network Utility
3. Apple Remote Desktop
4. iChat (Jabber for internal networks) - or AppleScript for it's allowing anything to be done.
5. Safari (Can't get the move to next or previous tab in Firefox as in Safari or in Shiira; Command-shift-arrows left/right)
6. Preview
7. Stickies (for selected notes)
8. Keychain access
9. Aperture (I can't stand iPhoto 6), Final Cut Studio and Logic Pro (the same goes for all consumer apps)
10. Mac OS X Server (with all the applications in it)
Most useful non-Apple softwares :
1. SubEthaEdit for editor, OnyX for the system maintenance point of view.
2. Adium for the messaging needs, Delocalizer for removing what you don't need in the system.
3. Skype for phoning needs, VLC for video, for replacing DVD player and QuickTime.
4. Dokuwiki with its additions, including ACL
5. Smultron for SubEthaEdit alternative; Hallon for notes for KeyXing alternative
6. NVU for quick edits
7. Flickr Uploadr
8. Xjournal not just for Livejournal needs
9. Camino, Firefox, Shiira
10. StreamRipperX
Those obviously excluding the specific work related rare applications.
Since the list of non-Mac OS X supplied list of pointless or useless applications is pretty big -- there are over 10,000 Mac OS X applications in versiontracker, it is probably more useful to concentrate in the applications that I don't find any use in Mac OS X itself. This is again just me - so if I find no use for one application does not make it bad, it just makes one user to not find any use for a particular application.
1. Chess - never used, and it has been there since 10.0.
2. iWeb - I refuse to use web editors that don't show the HTML. That would be approximately like showing a word program that doesn't allow you to edit or see text.
3. Automator. Just learn to use AppleScript and you can do more.
4. Dashboard. I want a way to disable it when I don't want to use it - hopefully OnyX allows me to do it.
5. Garageband. Spoiled that I am, why bother when Logic is an alternative?
I tried to make for a long time a list of the most used and least used applications in Mac OS X. Not the easiest task since everyone's needs are different, and even I have way different needs at work and at home, but here comes both sides considered one version.
The useful ones that are either OS X supplied or come from Apple :
1. Terminal
2. Network Utility
3. Apple Remote Desktop
4. iChat (Jabber for internal networks) - or AppleScript for it's allowing anything to be done.
5. Safari (Can't get the move to next or previous tab in Firefox as in Safari or in Shiira; Command-shift-arrows left/right)
6. Preview
7. Stickies (for selected notes)
8. Keychain access
9. Aperture (I can't stand iPhoto 6), Final Cut Studio and Logic Pro (the same goes for all consumer apps)
10. Mac OS X Server (with all the applications in it)
Most useful non-Apple softwares :
1. SubEthaEdit for editor, OnyX for the system maintenance point of view.
2. Adium for the messaging needs, Delocalizer for removing what you don't need in the system.
3. Skype for phoning needs, VLC for video, for replacing DVD player and QuickTime.
4. Dokuwiki with its additions, including ACL
5. Smultron for SubEthaEdit alternative; Hallon for notes for KeyXing alternative
6. NVU for quick edits
7. Flickr Uploadr
8. Xjournal not just for Livejournal needs
9. Camino, Firefox, Shiira
10. StreamRipperX
Those obviously excluding the specific work related rare applications.
Since the list of non-Mac OS X supplied list of pointless or useless applications is pretty big -- there are over 10,000 Mac OS X applications in versiontracker, it is probably more useful to concentrate in the applications that I don't find any use in Mac OS X itself. This is again just me - so if I find no use for one application does not make it bad, it just makes one user to not find any use for a particular application.
1. Chess - never used, and it has been there since 10.0.
2. iWeb - I refuse to use web editors that don't show the HTML. That would be approximately like showing a word program that doesn't allow you to edit or see text.
3. Automator. Just learn to use AppleScript and you can do more.
4. Dashboard. I want a way to disable it when I don't want to use it - hopefully OnyX allows me to do it.
5. Garageband. Spoiled that I am, why bother when Logic is an alternative?
Flights accidents search engine
And as a show of total randomness in the geek world, not switching as far as thinspiration to fibrechannel card analysis and comparison but equally close - the next randomness being Flight accidents search engine
Ana Carolina Reston and Luisel Ramos - two too many dead for anorexia
Anoressia: pericolo di complicità su Internet (also pasted here) is what concerned me today -- for having had on and off eating disordered life since before I was a teenager, the topic isn't something that I would run to rarely.
Ana Carolina Reston, ayoung, talented, beautiful (pictures of her), Brazilian model (her agency's RIP page) died 15 November 2006 because of anorexia. She weighed only 40 kilograms (88 lbs.), measured 1.72 m (5'8"), and had been hospitalized since October 25 for kidney malfunction due to anorexia nervosa and bulimia, which included a diet of only eating apples and tomatoes. Her condition became more serious and deteriorated into generalized infection that led to her death at the age of 21. After her death, her mum will not keep quiet.
Viviane Setti, the mother of Miss Reston's boyfriend, said: "Ana's death should serve as a wake-up call to all modelling agencies about anorexia. There's nothing glamorous about an ending like hers."
She was the second anorexic model reported to have died in 2006. Luisel Ramos, 22, suffered a heart attack in August after living on lettuce leaves and Diet Coke for three months.
A young Uruguayan model died of heart failure while participating in a fashion show during Fashion Week in Montevideo (Uruguay), according to officials at the hotel where the show was held. 22 year-old Luisel Ramos felt ill after walking the catwalk, fainted on her way to the dressing room and died in spite of the medical attention she received from a mobile hospital unit.
The doctors who treated her diagnosed her with heart failure. The young woman’s father told police that the model had gone several days without eating. In Uruguay’s close neighbor, Argentina, more and more women are struggling with body obsession. The USA leads the world in deaths caused by eating disorders, followed by Japan and Germany.
Survival of the thinnest and This is the model who sparked size zero debate are both about Luisel Ramos.
These two young models are two too many dead for eating disorders.
Hopefully the result will be slowly forcing the model and fashion industry to look at its sick standards, and slowly change them. Madrid fashion week has already added a minimum BMI to be applied for the models. One fashion show is a good start, then to have Milan, London, New York, Tokyo, Paris and the rest. And needless to say, fashion magazines still have way too many girls in the pictures that are way too tiny. Even if the tinyness was a result of just good photoshopping skills, it isn't sure promoting the young women's and men's acceptance of their body in its natural form and shape.
Sunday, December 03, 2006
Ten reasons why I've quit reading a blog
Why is it so hard for people that consider themselves so professional and godlike?
To keep the topics separate that is. If a blog is about technology or gadgets or something specific, the last thing I want to read about regularly in that blog is about the author's kids, attempts to conceive, or any gross personal health issues for that matter.
There are a few blogs that I quit reading for that matter.
That made me analyze why I have quit reading blogs that I like, and the conclusions would be more or less as below.
1. The topic or topics blogged don't interest me any more. Maybe I was reading searching about something specific of for work or other reason my interest has expired. I found out what I needed to find out about a particular subject, so it is done now. I no longer care about a certain brand mobile phone details, Apple rumors, body hacks, transgender issues, or cooking. The topics have been replaced by something that interests me now.
2. The bloggercentric, godlike view of everything. I know everything, look, here are my professional views about everything. And after that know it all entry about how to improve ssh the god know it all blogger posts about his kids or what he ate. Did I already mention blogs about anything professional and kids don't mix?
3. Professional blogs that mix content of private life, such as their kids or reproductional status.
4. Blogs that don't have content. In this category there are a bunch of the digg whorers. Look what I found in the Internet, here is this cool link about this and that, here digg it, and here youtube. Umh, no. I tend to prefer the sources, so if I find the source, I may follow the source for a while, if there are no other interesting stories there I'll ignore that source, but most likely, the copy paste of 'look what I found in the internet' isn't going to keep me for a while if it's only purpose is getting dugg.
5. Blogs that I am supposed to like. Just because boingboing or tuaw authors, Bruce Schneier, or Guy Kawasaki or someone else regularly brings contents of a blog that they like does not me make any more interested in every topic they blog about. Just because it's about macs, it does not make it any more special than the 20,000 other blogs about macs out there.
6. Blogs of which the authors are not teens but blog teenager style. Includes examples of people who complain openly in the internet that they are in US illegally and try to get theur bride over .. needless to say, unless those blogs are very bad, they don't normally even get a second visit. If they are very bad, then it's a different story again, it may even become more entertaining than these too serious blogs. This would in some cases include those that have a really ugly layout or colors, but normally that deficit is bypassable using an RSS reader.
7. Blogs that repeat all the same buzzwords of the day and week they read. The US blogger that refused to give his video materials to police and got in trouble about that, the Jesus appearing in the cheese sandwich on ebay, all the special children doing their star wars kid dances in youtube and so on.
8. No sense of humor. I may take my job seriously, but there is no reason why I would take my private life without humor. Unfunny things don't generally interest me.
9. Over repeating the political, religious, or any ideological points of view about everything and all the time.
10. Blogs that update too often or too rarely. Updating the personal blog 20 times a day can be worse than when you update your personal blog once a month.
What does that leave?
Blogs that have fun content and no heavy material.
Blogs that are of the people who write on a way that I like.
Blogs of my friends - how was your day, what pissed you off today, what got you excited recently and how is your love life. It's way more likely to matter than your 'professional' views about everything and all the time.
Blogs that are of a specific matter, including kids. The blogs about kids and family life should be kept separate about the rest of the blogging topics - so I don't mind seeing every now and then how is little Lucy doing out there, as long as the Lucy posts are not in the middle of your technogodrambling.
Blogs that have information that matters to me. How to get something done that I don't bother to waste more time than every now and then read a post or two.
Blogs that contain good quality rants often enough.
This is a rare entry where I don't feel it to be appropriate to give examples of URLs of the offenders.
To keep the topics separate that is. If a blog is about technology or gadgets or something specific, the last thing I want to read about regularly in that blog is about the author's kids, attempts to conceive, or any gross personal health issues for that matter.
There are a few blogs that I quit reading for that matter.
That made me analyze why I have quit reading blogs that I like, and the conclusions would be more or less as below.
1. The topic or topics blogged don't interest me any more. Maybe I was reading searching about something specific of for work or other reason my interest has expired. I found out what I needed to find out about a particular subject, so it is done now. I no longer care about a certain brand mobile phone details, Apple rumors, body hacks, transgender issues, or cooking. The topics have been replaced by something that interests me now.
2. The bloggercentric, godlike view of everything. I know everything, look, here are my professional views about everything. And after that know it all entry about how to improve ssh the god know it all blogger posts about his kids or what he ate. Did I already mention blogs about anything professional and kids don't mix?
3. Professional blogs that mix content of private life, such as their kids or reproductional status.
4. Blogs that don't have content. In this category there are a bunch of the digg whorers. Look what I found in the Internet, here is this cool link about this and that, here digg it, and here youtube. Umh, no. I tend to prefer the sources, so if I find the source, I may follow the source for a while, if there are no other interesting stories there I'll ignore that source, but most likely, the copy paste of 'look what I found in the internet' isn't going to keep me for a while if it's only purpose is getting dugg.
5. Blogs that I am supposed to like. Just because boingboing or tuaw authors, Bruce Schneier, or Guy Kawasaki or someone else regularly brings contents of a blog that they like does not me make any more interested in every topic they blog about. Just because it's about macs, it does not make it any more special than the 20,000 other blogs about macs out there.
6. Blogs of which the authors are not teens but blog teenager style. Includes examples of people who complain openly in the internet that they are in US illegally and try to get theur bride over .. needless to say, unless those blogs are very bad, they don't normally even get a second visit. If they are very bad, then it's a different story again, it may even become more entertaining than these too serious blogs. This would in some cases include those that have a really ugly layout or colors, but normally that deficit is bypassable using an RSS reader.
7. Blogs that repeat all the same buzzwords of the day and week they read. The US blogger that refused to give his video materials to police and got in trouble about that, the Jesus appearing in the cheese sandwich on ebay, all the special children doing their star wars kid dances in youtube and so on.
8. No sense of humor. I may take my job seriously, but there is no reason why I would take my private life without humor. Unfunny things don't generally interest me.
9. Over repeating the political, religious, or any ideological points of view about everything and all the time.
10. Blogs that update too often or too rarely. Updating the personal blog 20 times a day can be worse than when you update your personal blog once a month.
What does that leave?
Blogs that have fun content and no heavy material.
Blogs that are of the people who write on a way that I like.
Blogs of my friends - how was your day, what pissed you off today, what got you excited recently and how is your love life. It's way more likely to matter than your 'professional' views about everything and all the time.
Blogs that are of a specific matter, including kids. The blogs about kids and family life should be kept separate about the rest of the blogging topics - so I don't mind seeing every now and then how is little Lucy doing out there, as long as the Lucy posts are not in the middle of your technogodrambling.
Blogs that have information that matters to me. How to get something done that I don't bother to waste more time than every now and then read a post or two.
Blogs that contain good quality rants often enough.
This is a rare entry where I don't feel it to be appropriate to give examples of URLs of the offenders.
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